Signs of autism as a baby

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The only abnormal behavior from infancy of which I've been told was rocking - both in my crib and in the car. My mom tells me I'd "bounce" so hard in my crib I'd routinely move it across the room. Of course I have no memory of that, but I do recall rocking in the back seat of the car, and I'm pretty sure I continued this behavior until I was at least 5 or so, as I do remember doing it. As I'm 43 now, my parents didn't really know what to make of it back then. Certainly autism was far from their minds.

I still find myself occasionally engaging in rocking or other repetitive motions like that today.

yes i did. initially, i was thought to have low functioning autism with a low grade of intelligence, but later on (at about 3) i started to bother to talk, and then it became more apparent that i was not ret*d, but still i was considered autistic due to my mental divorcement from everyday people.

as a baby, i did not have any interest in the faces of other people. even those who tried to attract my attention.
my sisters said they tried to attract my attention many times, but they never were successful.

i was interested in minute aspects of what was in my visual field, and i rarely turned my head to look at other things when i became fixed in attention.

i remember quite a lot from when i was about 2, and i can remember that i knew how to talk, but for some reason i decided not to. i think i was amused at the fact that i could do something that no one knew i could, and i also liked to keep people in suspense as i almost uttered words and their faces "lit up", but then i would pretend that it was just a fluke by babbling again, and i would watch their frustration.

i remember my mother trying to get me to say the word "ambulance" when we were in a car as an ambulance drove by, and i said "amb---ambu" and she became excited and said "yes! yes! ambu------", and i then babbled "ambleblobbleblah" (or a similar sound) in order to watch her frustration.

(when i was about 3, i decided to "blow" everyone's minds by suddenly talking in what i thought was an eloquent way)


i was always interested in flies and other small life forms that came into my field of view. i remember that with flies, i was frustrated at the fact that i could never predict what they would do next, or how they would zigzag through the air. i became able to track flies with my visual focus at a very fast pace, and i could always see clearly the fly i was focusing on no matter how it darted or how suddenly it took off. i never was able to learn how to predict what they would do however.

i always laid on my belly and looked at the floor if i was placed on the floor as a baby. i never looked upward or crawled to a different location. i always started to fixate on what was in front of my eyes, and even the weave of the carpet was enough to hold my attention for extended periods of time.

i hated facing upwards.

i was not able to posture my musculature in order to provide normal resistance to falling through the arms of people who picked me up (who did not know how to handle me).

there are many examples but that will do for now.

My parents always said I didn't talk much I would just point at things I wanted (I know pointing is actually considered communication so doesn't count ast a language delay but I think it at least shows a reluctance to speak) and they were worried about it but then I started talking (when it came to my assessment they completely denied saying this even though id heard it countless times).

Theres lots of little things in my baby book, the age of first words section is blank even though it was well maintained for years (don't know why maybe my parents felt embarrassed about writing a late age), the first day of playgroup section said not too keen, the favourite food section said cheese sandwiches with exclamation mark that reminded me it was all that I ever ate. Under the what is he good at it said lego and detail. Looking at photos I think there are signs, I was always tightly clutching or fiddling with something, I used to sit down in this weird reverse cross legged M shape which people thought was uncomfortable but I couldn't site cross legged (low muscle tone?) and that spaced out facial expression. Obviously none of these things are diagnostic but are consistent with it

Oh and I used to have a very good memory, whenever anyone had lost something I would just know where it was because I remembered seeing it.

Unresponsive and withdrawn. Did not play like other babies.Had meltdowns over bright light and loud sounds. Would only eat a narrow range of foods. Significant speech delay. Didn't start walking until was nearly four. Took until I was about 6 to become toilet trained. Stuff like that

Keeping in mind that what I write here is from what I've been told, and from what I've seen in photos, on videos, and recorded down in my baby development book. I am not assuming, nor do I have a fantastic memory.

I was a sociable baby and showed no peculiar signs that concerned anybody.
I had a healthy, normal birth. In fact I was born quite quickly, and I had no health concerns. I cried when I came out, as most babies do.
I smiled at about 3 weeks, when my mum or dad was playing tickle with me.
When I got to about 5 or 6 months I liked having my nappy changed. I would grab my mum or dad's fingers while they were trying to change my nappy, because I often got playful.
I took my first steps when I was only 11 months, when lots of guests were round my house, and I got rather excited with all these people, that I was standing holding on to a table (which I learnt how to do at 10 months), then suddenly made myself walk over to my dad. Everybody was really chuffed.
I said my first words at 14 months, we can't remember what it was exactly. I had typical toddler tantrums over the usual stuff toddlers have tantrums over, like wanting to do something or have something I wasn't allowed to, like a toy, etc. But my older brother was a placid, good child, so I think I copied him and so didn't have that many tantrums.
I played with toys typically. Well, I don't exactly know how a toddler is typically supposed to play with their toys, but I didn't do odd things like line the toys up in a specific way and not ever play with them. I even remember playing with toys as a toddler. I remember I had this big chunky train that sung a little tune as you pushed it along, and I remember pushing it along and using little people from other toy sets as the passengers. Well, I pretended they were my brother and his friends coming out of school and getting on the train (although they didn't get the train home from school in real life, it was just an imaginative play thing). I had more toys than that and played with them as well, but that was just an example.
I didn't mind sharing my toys with other children either, when they came round. I played with my toys fine with other children, and had no issues.
A pink teddy bear was my favourite toy, and I took him to preschool. Sometimes I would push him in my toy stroller up the town with my mum. But then if she saw one of her friends with a child around my age, I would lose interest in pushing the stroller along, and would want to run ahead with the other child and play. I remember one time having a tantrum because I wanted to go into the park but my mum said no because we didn't have time. I cried all the way home, but calmed down when we were almost home.

So, yeah, I was a pretty normal baby. Nobody would ever have guessed that I was a baby with Asperger's. Perhaps it's because I'm a girl with mild Asperger's, I don't know.

I am all of these things as well. I learned how to dismantle remotes and use locks and keys at an early age. I kept parental conversation to a minimum, as they try to lather me with physical affection, and talked mostly to special ed classmates and siblings.